Fergie's Tech Blog

More U.S. Lawmakers to Be Briefed on Domestic Surveillance

Charles Babington and Dafna Linzer write in The Washington Post:

The White House, facing a potentially tough Senate grilling of its choice to head the CIA, agreed yesterday to expand the number of lawmakers who will receive classified briefings on the administration's anti-terrorism efforts that include warrantless wiretaps of domestic phone calls and e-mails.

The administration previously had insisted on briefing only a small fraction of Congress's 535 members, saying larger gatherings were likely to result in leaks of secret information. But Democrats and some Republicans had objected, and Gen. Michael V. Hayden -- President Bush's nominee to be CIA director -- faced the awkward prospect of a confirmation hearing tomorrow in which he could tell some Senate intelligence committee members, but not others, some details of the administration's surveillance programs.

posted by Fergie @ 5/17/2006 09:00:00 AM